Alexa devices get deep discounts for Amazon Prime Day

Amazon is deeply discounting its two most popular Alexa devices today, the Echo and Echo Dot, as the retailer’s annual Prime Day sale kicks off.^[1] Starting tonight at 6 PM PT, the Echo will receive a 50 percent price cut, making it $89.99, and the Echo Dot will drop by $15, bringing it down to $34.99. Meanwhile, Amazon’s bluetooth speaker with Alexa, the Amazon Tap, is $50 off, making it $79.90.

The sale on the Echo Dot is notable, given that a recent e-commerce study from Adobe^[2] identified the Alexa-powered smart speaker as the best seller among Amazon’s Echo line. Their report indicated the Dot’s lower price point attracted consumers, who perhaps saw the device as an affordable way to dip their toe into the waters of voice computing, without committing to the pricier Echo. Now, for Prime Day, the Dot is priced the lowest it has ever been.

Google Home devices had sold well during the 2016 holidays, thanks to a late year-end release, the report also said, but the Echo Dot then quickly caught up and surpassed it.

By the first quarter of the year, the Dot led smart speaker sales, accounting for 53 percent of the market compared with Google Home’s 30 percent share. (Adobe had only counted non-proprietary sales – meaning those outside of Amazon and Google’s first-party storefronts. That gives us a window into device popularity, but not the full picture, we should note.)

However, even at a 30 percent share, that put the Google Home ahead of other Echo devices including the original Echo and Amazon Tap.

With Prime Day, Amazon’s decision to bring down the Echo Dot to its lowest price ever could help it...

The world’s second largest primary silver mine, Tahoe Resources Escobal Mine, was forced to shut down operations in Guatemala by a ruling from the country’s Supreme Court. This was due to a provisional decision by the Guatemalan Supreme court in respect of a request by CALAS, an anti-mining group, for an order to temporarily suspend the license to operate the Escobal Mine until there is a full hearing. (picture courtesy of Tahoe Resources)

While this story has been out for a few days, I believe there is a great deal of misinformation on the Mainstream and Alternative media about the current situation and future outcome of Tahoe’s flagship Escobal Mine. Some analysis suggests that this is just a small speed-bump for Tahoe, so when they are able to address disputed regulatory issues, production and profits will shortly return once again.

However, there also seems to be a another side to the story that could cause more problems for Tahoe with a much longer suspension time than the company is publicly stating. For example, the following was published in the article… Tahoe Resources forced to halt Escobal mine in Guatemala:

Here we can see that the company (Tahoe) is very optimistic that production at Escobal will start back in three months, while Haywood analysts forecast operations won’t likely resume this year. So, who should we believe, or which forecast is more correct? Before we get into the details, let’s first look at the impact of suspending the 2nd largest primary silver mine in the world on the market.